


Awkward Cupcakes

by Master_of_the_Rebels



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, Superboy has daddy issues, UST, but Robin interferes, the girls want to help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-18
Updated: 2012-04-18
Packaged: 2017-11-03 21:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/386123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Master_of_the_Rebels/pseuds/Master_of_the_Rebels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superboy is having a terrible day after another less than feel-good encounter with Superman.  Unfortunately, Robin doesn't exactly help make it better, just more confusing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awkward Cupcakes

Superboy’s whole non-relationship thing with Superman was starting to get out of control.  It seemed every time he accidentally bumped into his…whatever the man was to him, the brief time was spent shuffling uncomfortably around each other until Superman came up with some excuse to book it out of there.  Thus leaving Superboy to stew in his ever-deepening mire of aggravated confusion as he stormed his way back to the hideout.

 

The poor walls of the cave couldn’t take the release of frustration anymore, if the mass amount of dents and cracks were anything to go by.

 

Black Canary just looked at him like he was acting half his age—which, honestly, wasn’t even feasible, considering he was created less than a year ago—and when Red Tornado attempted to talk him through it, everything became even worse, because the last person that needed to attempt an explanation for Superman’s behavior was the not so human android.  The G-Gnomes would have been a better choice at that point.

 

So that’s why he was currently being held hostage, excuse me, comforted in the kitchen by Artemis and M’Gann, both of whom were doing their best to bring his spirits up before he cost the League any more in damages.

 

“Connor, try this.” He nearly went cross-eyed when a large cupcake was shoved in front of his face, and he took it from M’Gann’s hand, careful not to disturb the frosting.  “It’s a new recipe, tell me what you think!”

 

Brow in a set line, he tilted his head, turning the dessert around to eye it.  “It looks different than last time.”

 

A snort came from Artemis as she leaned her elbows on the counter beside him and smirked.  “That’s probably because it’s a cupcake, not a muffin.  Martian-gal’s branching out.”

 

Superboy glanced up at them, uneasy with the two brilliant smiles he was receiving.  “A cupcake.” That earned him twin nods of enthusiasm, and he looked back down at the treat.  Not entirely sure where to begin, he just stared for a moment.

 

“Ooohhh! Cupcakes!” One minute, Superboy was looking at the cupcake, the next, his hand was empty.  Frowning, he looked over to see Robin snickering at him as Kid Flash devoured _his_ cupcake in nearly one bite.  “Unmmm gooo, gimme ‘nother.”

 

M’Gann scowled at the other redhead and slapped his hand away when he reached towards the platter.  “Wally, they’re not for you.  They’re for Connor.”

 

Kid stared blankly for a few seconds before stating, “It’s not his birthday though.”

 

Robin chuckled.  “Not really yours either, KF.” Robin settled in a stool next to Superboy, whispering a few unheard statements that had the clone’s lips twitching with repressed amusement.

 

“Tch. Details.” Wally crossed his arms in an unmistakable pout and sent the best pair of sparkling puppy dog eyes he could muster at the green girl.

 

“…Okay, fine!  Here!”

 

The speedster let out a whoop of success; M’Gann never could resist the puppy face.  Looking around as he polished off his second cupcake, he asked between chews, “So if it’s not his birthday, why is Supey getting cupcakes?”

 

Superboy stiffened at the reminder of why he was in the kitchen, having been momentarily distracted by Robin’s quips.  His glare returned in full force and he directed it down to the countertop, wrapping his hand around his cup to ground himself from lashing out at anyone unnecessarily. 

 

“Oh, well, he ran into…you-know-who again.” M’Gann murmured, as Artemis tried to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.

 

Nodding wisely, the action completely ruined by the smear of frosting on his chin, Kid replied, “Ah, right.  Awkward-Daddy strikes again.”

 

The crack of glass signaled the superclone’s dislike of the title, and both M’Gann and Artemis sent Wally packing to the other side of the kitchen with the ice in their combined gazes.  Once he was suitably contained in a makeshift time-out, the girls refocused and tried to fix the damage done with soft words and gentle touches to a shoulder, or hand.

 

Robin watched the womanly display for a few beats before grinning.  The protective barrier they were trying to set in place was borderline hilarious in its ineffectualness, and it gave the Boy Wonder the best idea.  “Yeah, man, you shouldn’t sweat it.”

 

Superboy tensed as the other boy dropped an arm around his neck, bringing them in direct contact, side-to-side.  Unlike the girls, Robin radiated a heat source of his own, the current tingling burn along his skin wherever he touched attesting to that.  He peeked to the side, unsure what to think about the sensation and close proximity. 

 

With a crafty smile, Robin drug his arm to the side, his hand seemingly absentminded in brushing off Artemis’ touch, for which she appeared incensed.  Her response just made him act even more devious.  With a quick look, he reached out and placed his hand on Superboy’s, deliberately pushing M’Gann’s out of the way so he had full contact, taking great pleasure in the complete confusion that flashed onto her face. 

 

“You just need to relax and be yourself.  He’ll come around.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of a big hand, the corner of his lip twitching to hold back a smirk at the way M’Gann zeroed in on the simple action.  With a smooth movement, Robin shifted his arm so he could massage one shoulder, and then the back of a neck, in an act that should have been made in comfort, but really just earned him the most hilarious squeak of conflict from Artemis.

 

Meanwhile, Wally watched the entire episode at a distance with a curious eye, unable to decide which was more entertaining: the way the girls were clearly uncertain about how to take this sort of scene, or the way Superboy was becoming more and more obviously agitated about the entire situation.  Hearing the soft step next to him, he glanced over to see Kaldur had finally returned from his trip to Atlantis.  What perfect timing.

 

“…What in the world is Robin doing to Superboy?” The quiet, befuddled question almost sent Kid into a fit of hysterical laughter.

 

“You tell me.  Watch.”

 

Superboy’s entire body was rigid, incapable of reacting but dying to do so all the same.  Every slight movement Robin made sent discomforting sparks of heat through his skin.  In particular, that thumb rubbing was creating the most intense non-burn burning he’d ever experienced.  Getting blasted into walls during fights made him feel less than the delicate touches Robin was obliviously giving him.  And although he didn’t shift away when Robin started to massage his neck, a deep vibration wrapped its way down his spine and then flooded out through him, his body temp making it feel like he’d spontaneously combust at any moment.  The unfamiliar feeling freaked him out.

 

His back snapped up straight when Robin’s hand squeezed his, a few of their fingers intertwining in the process.  His teeth clenched tightly and his muscles betrayed him, spasmodically squeezing back.  On reflex, his eyes sought out Aqualad, the older boy’s presence and wisdom generally bringing him a sense of calm and peace, and in this precise moment, some explanation and understanding would have been nice, too.  But he was greatly disappointed when he realized that Kaldur was involved in a low, apparently heated discussion with Kid, and wouldn’t be helping him out of anything this time. 

 

The surplus of emotions racing through him at full-tilt was making his head spin.  The poor clone didn’t know how to respond to any of it, or even begin trying for that matter.  This had never happened before.  Of course, he’d never let anyone get quite this close to him either, but even when he’d held hands with M’Gann at school, it hadn’t affected him anything like this.

 

Robin was saying something now, possibly about Superman being socially inept, but Superboy couldn’t hear it, not with the blood rushing in his ears like that.  Standing abruptly and completely ignoring the calls of concern from the girls, he strode from the kitchen in the fastest walk he could manage, aiming straight for his room.  Banging the door shut behind him, he stood and stared into the mostly empty space, desperately willing his body to go back to normal.  Maybe he needed to go get a check up; this couldn’t be right.

 

Back in the kitchen, Wally was hiding behind Kaldur as M’Gann and Artemis berated Robin for acting, as they believed, immature. 

 

“You completely ruined everything we accomplished!  What were you thinking?” Artemis leaned over towards the boy menacingly.

 

A snort escaped him.  “What did you accomplish?  He looked just as pissed as he did earlier when we walked in.” 

 

Crossing her arms, the air around her pulsing angrily, M’Gann shot a nasty look at Wally, who cowered behind the Atlantean even more.  “Maybe if Wally hadn’t stolen his cupcake, he’d have been feeling better by now!”

 

“Whaaat! You can’t blame this all on me!” The look on her face stated otherwise.

 

Raising his hands in placating manner, Kaldur stepped in.  “We all know this is no one’s fault.  Superboy was unhappy the moment he came home and that had nothing to do with any of us.” Wally had filled him in already on the events of the day.  “Look, I have something I need to discuss with Kid.  Why don’t you three go see if you can calm Superboy down a bit?  _Together_ , please.” Ever the mediator, he sent a meaningful look to all of them that promised consequences if they disobeyed. 

 

Both Artemis and M’Gann seemed properly chastised at the clear reprimand from their team leader, and they started off together towards the other side of the cave.  Robin remained, however, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest.  “I don’t see why I need to go.”

 

“Robin, this is mostly your fault.” Kaldur responded.

 

Robin sputtered indignantly.  “You _just_ said that no one—”

 

“I lied.”

 

Silence.

 

“I’m sorry, you what?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“But you’re the _leader_!  How could you—”

 

“I did what was needed to stop the fight.  Now will you please go with the girls as I asked?” 

 

“You can’t just—”

 

“Robin!  Go!”

 

“I’m not—”

 

“If you don’t go right now, I’m going to tell Batman you were being uncooperative on a team mission.”

 

“This isn’t a mission!”

 

“I’m making it one now.  Mission “Go Talk To Superboy”.  That’s an order.”

 

“But—”

 

“Batman.”

 

Robin scowled darkly, but finally stalked off after the girls.  Kaldur heaved a sigh, slumping against the counter.  Laughter bubbled up out of Wally and he patted the dark boy on the shoulder.  “Well done, man.  And people think I’m hard to handle.” Kaldur just shook his head.

 

When Robin rounded the corner, cursing twelve ways to doomsday, he was halted unexpectedly by a loud shout.

 

“I SAID NO!  GO AWAY!”

 

Superboy’s denial had him raising his eyebrows.  Artemis and M’Gann were standing beside each other in front of the clone’s closed door, looking worried and uncertain about what to do next.  Coming closer, Robin caught himself up with their conversation.

 

“Aqualad said we need to talk to him.”

 

“I know, but he won’t let us in his room.  How are we supposed to talk to him through a door?”

 

“I could use my psychic powers to talk to him in his mind?”

 

Robin interjected at that point.  “Do it, and he’s going to resent you for who knows how long.”

 

M’Gann turned towards him, worry painted on her face.  “But what do we do?”

 

Robin shrugged.  “I can try.”

 

Artemis sneered at him.  “Yeah, right.  If he’s not letting us in, no way is he going to say yes to you.”

 

Ignoring the barb, Robin called out, “Hey, Superboy.  It’s Robin.  Can I come in?  I need to talk to you.”

 

Artemis rolled her eyes in the resounding silence while M’Gann wrung her own wrists anxiously.  Robin waited.

 

“…Yes.”

 

To say the looks on the girls’ faces were of pure shock would have been an understatement.  Inwardly snickering, Robin stepped past them with an air of triumph.  “Excuse me, ladies.” Sliding smoothly in as he opened the door, the young boy gave a smug little wave that made them both scoff and wander off down the hall in irritated defeat.  Laughing, he pulled back to shut the door and turned around.

 

“JEEZ!!” Robin yelped, taken completely by surprise when he came face to chest with Superboy, who was frowning down at him questioningly.  “And you all think _I’m_ bad with sneaking up on you guys.” A palm to his heart to calm its racing, Robin used his free hand to pat the taller boy’s chest, missing the tightening of a jaw at the touch.  “SB, you really gotta learn about personal space.” Glancing up, he noticed how Superboy essentially loomed over him, practically twice his size, and he gestured with slight exasperation.  “This is kinda…”

 

Thanks to an utter misunderstanding of the boy’s meaning, the young Boy Wonder got an up close and detailed view of Superboy’s face, especially those bright blue eyes, when the clone leaned down so they’d be at eye level, consequently decimating any semblance of protective bubble Robin may have had.  Robin pressed his head back against the door in a stab at gaining some of it back, but failed spectacularly at conveying his message, as Superboy simply stepped forward even further.  Releasing an annoyed huff of air into the other’s face, he arched an eyebrow at the weird glazed look that momentarily came over the bigger boy.  “Look, Superboy—”

 

“Why does it do that?”

 

Robin blinked, thrown for a loop at the random question.  “Huh?”

 

Superboy straightened up, much to the masked boy’s relief.  “When you touch me, it feels hot.”

 

Robin blinked again.

 

And then, in a sudden horrified awakening of comprehension over just what exactly he’d been doing, his head nearly erupted from the rush of pure embarrassment. Robin spun around and was out the door in half a second, leaving behind a thoroughly distressed and confused young superhero with the door slammed shut in his face.

 

Leaning back against the wood, Robin tried to calm his rising panic attack.  A chuckle drew his attention up to the opposite wall where Kaldur and Wally were leaning back and staring at him.  “You all right there, Rob?” 

 

Schooling his features, Robin walked away down the hall without a word.  It was quiet, except for the slowly disappearing echoes of his footsteps, and then…

 

“I told you it was Supey.  Pay up.”

 

“Damn, I was almost certain it was Robin.”


End file.
